Thirty years ago, the release of a small-budget film had an outsized effect on the way people in Appalachian coal country thought about their past. The film “Matewan” won critical acclaim for its depiction of a bloody chapter in the fight to organize coal miners. Jeff Young of the Ohio Valley ReSource spoke with people who organized a 30th anniversary screening of “Matewan,” a film they say unearthed a story that had long been buried.

Coal country is waiting to see if President Trump’s rollbacks of environmental regulations will boost the mining business. But some bipartisan proposals before Congress offer different ways to help. Ohio Valley ReSource reporters offer some analysis of three ideas that could help to mend mining country.

Can coal make a comeback? That’s the title of a new report from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Researchers there analyzed the factors leading to the coal industry’s sharp decline over the past six years and assessed the Trump administration’s efforts to revive it.

Retired miners will not lose their health benefits, as had been feared, thanks to last-minute action from Congress. However, Congress did not act on the miners’ faltering pension benefits fund, which supports some 43,000 retired miners in the Ohio Valley region.

United Mine Workers retirees are celebrating a permanent fix for health benefits secured in the federal spending agreement Congress reached over the weekend. However, the deal left them with more work ahead to shore up faltering pension funds.

President Donald Trump's proposal to cut the Appalachian Regional Commission and other agencies has alarmed some people in a region that helped to elect him. Now a budget resistance is brewing within the president's own party. Benny Becker of the Ohio Valley ReSource reports on what's at stake.

President Donald Trump’s campaign-style rally in Louisville got the attention of some retired coal miners in the region. They’re particularly worried about being able to afford health insurance on a new plan.